Does anyone have any great ideas for making nosecones? (cheap is good) I am working on an 8" diameter rocket and need to build the nosecone myself, as to purchase one would be over $200.00. Any ideas, drawings, photos, material recommendation, or suggestions?

I am also looking at a pair of Dual Event Electronic Altimeters (Perfectflite Hi-Alt45K) The pair runs around $190.00. Is there anything out there better? Cheaper? or ???

Check out Doug Vileria's Honest John build blog. There he shows the hot-wire foam cutting method. It will cost you about $30-40 in materials to make a big nosecone. You will need a sheet of foam board from Home Depot, fiberglass sleeve from Soller composites http://sollercomposites.com/, and some epoxy resin from US Composites http://www.uscomposites.com/epoxy.html.

There are not probably any better basics altimeter's than the Hi-Alt45's. I offer club members the 'MARS2' altimeter for $65 (basically my cost in board and parts) Its very reliable and several club members use it. The only limitation is that it is good only up to about 10K feet AMSL. Unfortunately I am out of boards and wouldn't be able to make more till after NYPOWER.

Mars 2 alt's work perfecto!! best part, manufacturer tech support is usually only a few ez-ups away. print the destructions and keep them with you.

the us-composite epoxy is way cheaper than the name brand. In a previous life I used quite a bit of the name brand on actual boats and this seems to work just as well. don't forget to get some "phenolic micro balloons" or "colital silica" (i know i misspelled at least one word there) to make fin fillets. The silica can be a bugger to sand though, personally i think the balloons are stronger.

Sorry this did start on nose cones i have a tendency to rant, i just did a bunch of this so it is fresh. yeah cant wait for NYPOWER.

I did look at Doug's build and saw his manufacture of the nose cone. I like that but wasn't sure if there were alternatives. I guess I'll use his method as I like the way it came out and the cost factor. I need to save where I can so I can spend more for motors. (Gotta have em. Lots of em!) Thanks for letting me know where to purchase. As for the altimeters, is the MARS2 good enough for an L3?

If you are not particular about the shape of the nosecone there are other alternatives:
1. Conical foam sections are available in craft places for artificial flower arrangements. Don't know if they go as big as 8". If so just buy one and glass it to an section of airframe or coupler tube.
2. You can roll a conical shape from a large section of cardstock and then glass.
3. Get one of those huge sombrero's, cut off the brim and glass.

The MARS2 will be good enough for an L3, I will use one in mine. Just stay under 10K'.

(06-24-2009, 06:37 AM)Jim Goggins link Wrote: John

I did look at Doug's build and saw his manufacture of the nose cone. I like that but wasn't sure if there were alternatives. I guess I'll use his method as I like the way it came out and the cost factor. I need to save where I can so I can spend more for motors. (Gotta have em. Lots of em!) Thanks for letting me know where to purchase. As for the altimeters, is the MARS2 good enough for an L3?

Excellent ideas. You are hereby appointed the guru of "The L3 Build"! I like the idea of the huge sombrero. If it doesn't work for the nosecone I can always wear it. The conical foam from Michael's or such just might work. I'll check their sizes. Thanks for the tips. I can stay under 10,000' so I'll just use your MARS2 for the L3 cert. Of course it isn't until next year so you have some time to build a few altimeters and I have time to save for motors.